Guitar Quartet 1
The central idea behind this piece is movement, an ever changing landscape. Using a travel movie as an analogy, the music gives you a chance to enjoy a view, then you proceed on to another view, etc. The melody, texture, harmony and rhythms change from section to section, providing contrast, and movement.
- Guitar Quartet 1 – Score
- Guitar Quartet 1 – Guitar 1
- Guitar Quartet 1 – Guitar 2
- Guitar Quartet 1 – Guitar 3
- Guitar Quartet 1 – Guitar 4
The Sound of Tears
This music began its creation as one long piece for guitar. As with most of my compositions, this composition was formed in the early morning or late night, in my spare time. And some of it was created during our summer trip to Orcas Island. As it neared completion, I realized that it would be too unwieldy, so I changed it into a piece with four movements. The name is drawn from the idea of the crossing to Orcas island (a sound is a body of water), and the argument my wife and I had, which ended in tears. At a later time, I transcribed and further changed it into music for other ensemble groups.
Violin and Guitar
After creating Wind and Sand, I wanted to try my hand at something more involved, with more difficulty.violin and guitar
Wind and Sand
My wife and I have a circle of friends, we were couples before most of us were married. Most all of us married near the same time, and had children at the same time. We would plan trips together. For one of our trips to the beach, I wanted to create music that we could play together. It would commemorate our friendship and love for each other. It represented how, through the years, our lives have changed, kind of like the beach at the coast. The beach with its wind, waves, and sand, changes every year. The music starts out sounding like an old-time folk melody, sort of wistful. It develops gradually into something deeper and more complex.Wind and Sand
Prayer of Faith
My central thought was to pay homage to all those that came before us, who provided for us, lived, and gave their lives, without them we would not be here. This idea was prompted at that time by the death of my father. But I was thinking of more than just my father. We descend from an unimaginable line of ancestors, each handing down love, each struggling, and each somehow making it through, so that we are given this life to live. It is a prayer for them, a thank you, they are remembered.Prayer of Faith
Score:Prayer of Faith
Hope, Joy, and Love
My wife was not happy that I had created such a dark piece as Sorrow, Anger, and Despair. So to try to balance the scales of life, I thought for my next piece I should concentrate on something positive. I finally settled on three ideas, hope, joy, and love. Focusing on one word at a time for each movement, my mind and heart would spontaneously bring forth memories that I associated with those ideas and feelings. From those memories, I was brought into a world of melody, harmony, and rhythm which for me exemplified those feelings, those images.Hope, Joy, and Love
Score:Hope, Joy, and Love
Sorrow, Anger, and Despair
I wanted to create something that expresses the deep, sad feelings I have experience over my life. It is not an attempt to focus on any one event, but the impact of looking at all of them, the spiral of reviewing one after the other, until it becomes an overwhelming powerful storm of depression.Sorrow, Anger, and Despair
Score:Sorrow, Anger, and Despair
Contemplation
Contemplation was my earliest formal composition in 1991. It was created for my friend’s wedding and I performed it at their ceremony. Most of the piece is based on the opening single melody, which is an ascending phrase.Contemplation